Certain machines employ hydraulically operated components. Proper control of the hydraulics is generally carried out by manually operated hydraulic valves mounted on the machine frame at a convenient level for manual operation. As a specific example, there are provided pipe bending machines finding wide use in the shaping, for example, of automobile exhaust pipes. In operating these machines, the operator normally handles the pipe with both hands to position it in front of appropriate spaced shoe dies. A hydraulic valve is then manually actuated by the operator to cause a hydraulically operated ram to move against an opposite intermediate point of the pipe and thereby effect bending as a result of the three point contact between the shoes, ram and pipe.
In operations such as the foregoing, it would be very convenient if an operator could actuate or operate the hydraulic valve without having to remove one or both hands from a pipe or other object against which a hydraulic ram is to be brought. While it is possible, of course, to simply relocate the hydraulic valve to a lower position and provide an appropriate foot lever or the like for operating the valve, such entails radical modification of presently available equipment, not only in the relocation of the valve to a remote position but also in the necessity of changing the hydraulic hose line lengths and the like.